Tuesday, October 10, 2006

This Saturday I took the kids up to Duluth to "hang out," enjoy the amazing Fall colors and celebrate my brother's 50th birthday - and a better time could not have been had by all.

First up, a beautiful hike through one the newest legs of the Superior Hiking Trail that cuts right through the center of Duluth. The entire trail will take you from Jay Cooke State Park just south of Duluth all the way up to Canada! Here are some pictures of me, Rick and the kids taking a few breaks along the trail.

After our hike, we wandered down to "Casket Quarry" for a scenic overview of Duluth's harbor. It was named for the fact that it once supplied rock for headstones - although it could be said that it was named for the stupid people who have died there while attempting to climb without using proper safety gear.

Overlooking the quarry

Looking down on the harbor

Standing on the edge of the cliff with my stomach in knots. Bleh.

Then, on Saturday night Rick and I headed downstream to Tobie's Lounge in Hinkley where we celebrated his birthday with my two closest childhood friends, Mark and Neal. From the time we were toddlers these guys lived on either side of my house until we all graduated and moved on. Now I rarely get the chance to see them. But when we do get together, it's like time simply picks up where it left off. There really is no break to that kind of bond.

Mark's band Freeride was playing at Tobie's and it was the first time I had seen them play. Later, when the band asked me to join them on a song, it was also the first time either Mark or Neal had seen me play harp. Considering I've been playing harmonica for over 20 years, this just confirms howrarely we get the chance to see each other anymore.

Here I am with Mark, Rick and Neal doing my impression of a deer in headlights. Let's just say that at this point in the evening I was "comfortably numb," which, not-so-ironically, was the last song Freeride had played just prior to this picture.

I could blame my state of numbness on the fact that Neal kept buying me beers all night, but I prefer the more realistic excuse...

Zombies ate my brain!

12 comments:

Linda
said...

Wow, that is a great weekend. Time with the family, old friends, and Duluth in the fall. Love the pics!